Internal combustion engine



Aug. 2, 1932.

A. H. KING ET AL INTERNAL coMBUsTIoN ENGINE Original Filed June 5, 1928EARL f4. P705/ E @y f//Wz/ v f77-ro t/ 'stations ro THE PRATT aWHITNEYAIRGRMT vPatented Aug. 2,. '1932 ,Lease UTET* Originalappllcationled June 5, 1928,

is invention lrelates in general to internal combustion engines and is.more particularly concerned .with thermostatic controis governing theoperation of the same between certain ranges of combustion'cylim dertemperatures. This invention is a division from our originalapplication, Serial Number 283,081, filed June 5, 1928, and isespecially directed to such thermostatic de' W' vices as applicable tospark adjustment l5 of low grade final seizing of the pistons Withintheir cyltemperature of the cylin I inders-and the destruction of theengine.

. Y llt is well recognized that failure of an engine due to overheatinis due to excessive er head or cylinder walls, and the excessivetemperature may be 'caused either by high combustion tempera-4 v ture,deficiency of the cooling system, or a condition such as detonation,which causes a disproportionate part ofthe heat of cornbustion to be.transferred' to the cylinder walls.

The prior art engine temperatures lcontains eiiorts regulate by controlof the cooltrol of the cooling 'Water circulation. Such means areedective to maintain a certainmini'- mum temperature which may bedesirable for operation, but are powerless to limitthe maximumtemperature of the combustion chamber or cylinder Whenever theconditions of operation cause the evolution and transfer to the cylinderwalls of more heat thanthe cooling system is capable of absorbing. Inorder to remove the danger which might 'il-.i ER'H. KING .AND EABLE A.RYDER, 0F WEST HARTFORD, i. 1

'spark l control to the ing means, as, for example, thermostaticconirons', con?, or Troma con'- INTERNAL COMBUSTIQN ENG smal no. essen.'Divided nia ein applicaties-nea esem ai;

ma. sensi no. 399,781.

otherwise arise from excess loads, oor fuel selection, improper sparlrtiming, eliciency of. the cooling s stem or othercauses of overheating,it is t le to provide a means, governed by cylinder temperature, forcontrolling the amount oi heat supplied to the cylinder walls. lngeneral any control is `eective which operates to reduce the pressureand/or temperature of combustion; or to prevent detonation it conditionslikely to cause detonation are present.

' Combustion temperature may belowered purpose of this invention anddetonation, it any, reduced by closing the throttle, retarding thespark, enriching the fuel mixture, or by various combinations of thethree. `it is, therefore, an object of thisl invention to provide 4ameans, governed .by combustion cylinder temperature tor con trolling,within certain bounds, the setting of the spark adjustment control.

lt is the prime object of this invention to position atherrnostat at apoint vitally afected by overheating, such as on, or adjacent to, thebarrel or head ofone of the engine cylinders, and to connect the same bysuitable means to the spark adjustment control in. such a manner thatexcessive cylinder .temperatures will result in a retarding of thetemperatures will be avoided.

It is another object of this invention to provide in the connectionsbetween the thermoeec't that destructivel static device and the enginespark adjustment control a certain degree olost motion to prevent thethermostatic device from becoming vedective until a predeterminedcylinder temperature Ahas been attained, and to provide for adjustmentin these connections'. f

It is a further object of our invention to provide an' adjustablelinkage between two magnetos or distributor heads on the same enginewhereby both may be inuenced by a singlethermostat. 4 l Other objects ofour invention will appear v in the following specification and claimsand will be disclosed in the accompanying drawing in which- The figureis a rear elevation of a portion of a V-type internal combustion enginevwith our thermostatic control mounted thereon and illustrated partly insection.

v Referring now with greater particularity to the drawing, it will beseen that our device is. comprised as follows:

A thermostatl 1, preferably though not necessarily, com rised of twodissimilar metals having di erent co-etlicient of expansion and weldedor riveted together, is secured by any suitable means, such as isillustrated at 2, to the cylinder block 3 of the engine at a point at,or adjacent to,'the'head of the said cylinder. At its free end thethermostat has, fxedly or integrally secured thereto, a pin 20. This pinis adapted to travel in a slot 21 in the upper portion 22 of a sparkadjusting control rod 23. This rod is comprised of two principal parts23 and 24 adjustably securable to each other by a gland 25liaving'oppositely screw-threaded bores 2G and 27. A lock nut 28 isprovided to hold the rod parts in any position to which they may havebeen adjusted.

The lower rod portion 24 is pivotally connected at its lower end to thespark lever 26 which in turn is pivotally connected toits companionspark lever 27 by means of a rod 28', the engine shown being of the duelignition type. The rod 28 is, vin turn, pivotally connected to the handspark control rod 29. It will be noted that the rod 28 is divided intotwo "portions adjustably connected to each other by a gland 29. Thepurpose of this adjustable connection is to permit of adjustment of therelative settings of the two spark controls to the c linders in the dualignition system. The e ective length of the composite rod 23-24 may beadjusted by means of the gland 25 and so vary the setting at which thepin 2O will reach the bottom of the slot 21 and hence the temperaturesetting beyond which the thermostat will cause a retarding of the spark.The movement of the parts is shown in dotted lines as illustrating theaction of the thermostatic control under conditions of excesstemperatures.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the operation of our device isas follows:

When the engine temperature rises the thermostat moves in the directionof the osition shown in dotted lines. After the pm 20 reaches the bottomof the slot 21, any further depression of the free end of the thermostatca used by increased or excessive temperatures will result in moving thespark lever 24 to retard the spark. This in turn will result in alowering of the combustion chamber pressure and temperature. The land 25provides for adjustment of the osit1on of the rod 23 and its eyelet 21relative to the pin 20 and hence regulates the point at which thethermostat will become effective. The gland 29 provides for adifferential spark setting between the two sparking devices.

Having thus described our invention what we claim is- 1. In combination,with an internal combustion engine having a spark adjusting control, athermostat mounted in thermal communication with said engine, and meansoperatively connecting said thermostat and said spark control to actuatethe latter, said means being ineffective to operate said control at anynormal engine temperature but operating to retard the same when theengine temperature rises to a predetermined excessive degree.

2. In combination, with an internal combustion engine having a sparkadjusting control, a thermostat mounted on said engine, 8' and meansoperatively connecting said thermostat and said sparkcontrol to actuatethe latter, said means being ineiective to operate said control at anynormal engine temperature but operating toretard the same when theengine temperature rises to a predetermined excessive degree.

3. In combination, with an internal combustion engine having a sparkadjusting control, a thermostat mounted on said engine, and meansoperatively connecting said thermostat and said spark control to actuatethe latter when the temperature of said engine reaches a predetermineddegree, and means for adjusting said connecting means to vary the pointat which said thermostat becomes effective upon said spark control.

4. In combination, with an internal combustion engine having a sparkadjusting control, a thermostat mounted on said engine, and meansoperatively connecting said thermostat and said spark control to retardthe latter when the temperature of said engine reaches a predetermineddegree, and means for adjusting said connecting means to vary the pointat which said thermostat becomes effective' upon said spark control.l

5. In combination, with an internal combustion engine having a sparkadjusting control, a thermostat mounted on said engine 115 and inthermal communication therewith, a rod operatively connecting saidthermostat and said spark control to actuate the latter, said rod beingprovided with means whereby said thermostat is ineffective to operatesaid 12 control at any normal engine temperature but operates to retardthe same when the engine temperature rises to a predetermined excessivedegree. l

6. In combination, with an internal com- 125 bustion engine having alspark adjusting control, a thermostat mounted on said engine and inthermal communication therewith, a rod operatively connecting saidthermostat and said spark control to actuate the latter 139 when thetemperature reaches a predetermined degree, and means for adjusting theeffective length of said rod.

7. In combination, with an internal combustion engine having a sparkadjusting control, a thermostat mounted on said engine and in thermalcommunication therewith, a rod operatively connecting said thermostatand said spark control to actuate the latter when the temperaturereaches a predetermined-de ree, said rod having means permitting o lostmotion between said thermostat and said control to the extent that saidthermostat will be ineifective to operate said control at any normalengine temperature.

8. In combination, with an internal combustion engine having a sparkadjusting control, a thermostat mounted on said engine and in thermalcommunication therewith, a rod 'operatively connecting said thermostatand said spark control to actuate the latter when the temperaturereaches a predetermineddegre, and means for adjusting the effectivelength of said rod, said rod having means permitting of llost motionbetween said thermostat and said control to the extent 'two sparkdistributing control devices, and

means operatively connecting said distributing devices, sa1d means beingadjustable to provide a differential spark timing between said devices,a thermostat in thermal communication with said engine, and meansoperatively connecting said thermostat to said control devices toactuate the latter in response to engine temperature changes, said lastnamed means being adapted to permit of normal engine temperatureincreases Without influencing said controls but operating to retard thesame when a point of excess temperature is reached. l

11. In combination, with an internal combustine engine havin a dualignition system, two spark distributing control devices, and meansoperatively connecting said distributing devices, said means being'adjustable toprovide a differential spar timing between said devices, athermostat in thermal communicatiton with said engine, and meansoperatively connecting said thermostat to said control devices toactuate thelatter in -response to engine temperature changes, said lastnamed means being adapted to permit of normal engine temperatureincreases without influencing said controls but operating to retard thesame lwhen a point of excess tem rature is reached,'and means foradjustmg said last named meansto determine the temperature at which saidthermostat will become effective upon'said controls.

In testimony whereof we have aixed our signat res.

EARLE A. RYDER.

ALEXANDER H.'KING.

